Sand in the Hourglass
by Your Fellow Human
Summary: set before the invasion of the black sun. What happens when the gaang meets an incredibly strong sandbender named Kai, who joins their team. Can they trust him? Full summary inside! Rated T for safety. My first fanfic. TophxOC, slight KataraxOC, Kataang.
1. Chapter 1

Sand in the Hourglass

summary: set before the invasion on the day of black sun. The gaang decides to visit all the places they have been to try and recruit more people for the invasion force. When they return to the Si Wong desert, they meet a very strong and mysterious sandbender named Kai, who joins their team. But with their previous endeavors with sandbenders, can they trust him? And what does Kai mean when he says that "no one can escape their fate"? This is my very first fanfic so please be nice. TophxOC, slight KataraxOC, Kataang.

Disclaimer I do not own Avatar, but I do own my OC, Kai

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**Chapter 1**

"Everything is set." Sokka said, folding up his maps of the Fire Nation.

Katara stood up, "Then it's settled, we are going through with the invasion."

"This is going to be big. You sure you're ready for this, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked as she also jumped to her feet, causing a small quake that caused Sokka to drop the maps. Sokka grumbled something under his breath as he bent over to pick them up.

Aang continued to sit there, unaware of the humorous situation that had just occurred. He seemed almost in a meditative state, staring blankly at the floor. He was thinking of the brave men and women of the invasion force. Haru and the earthbenders, Sokka and Katara's father and the rest of the Water Tribe soldiers, even the guys from the swamp, all came to help the rag tag army.

He was also thinking about how some of them may not make it out alive. The plans were good, Sokka was always good at plans, but the invasion force was small. Sokka had said that this will help them catch the Fire Nation off guard, but Aang wasn't too sure if it had enough manpower, and on the other hand, he didn't want to put anymore people in danger.

Finally, Katara rested her hand on Aang's shoulder, breaking him from his train of thought. Aang looked up at Katara, who had a concerned look on her face.

"What's up, Aang?"

"It's nothing" Aang said, as he finally also stood up from the ground using his staff to help keep balance. But the rest of the team looked at him, and he realized that he could no longer keep his doubts a secret.

"Are you sure the invasion force is ready for this Sokka?"

"Yeah, we've been training for this for a long time now."

"I know that, I just mean...do you think there are enough of us? I know you said that it's ideal to keep it small so as to not attract attention, but I'm just worried..." Aang trailed off, and bowed his head as he racked his mind of what he wanted to say.

But as Aang looked up at Sokka, and he could tell that either he understood what the Avatar had meant to say or he too had the same worries as him, because he too was deep in thought.

Even the others had joined in each with their own contemplative looks on their face.

It almost made Aang laugh a bit.

It was Katara who was the first to break the silence. "Why don't we go back to the all the places we've been and see if we can find more people to join the cause."

"I suppose it would be nice if we had a couple more capable fighters..." Sokka added, slowly being convinced of the new idea.

Toph also chimed in, her pale emerald eyes looking in Aang's general direction. "Yeah, I mean we have two months before the Day of Black Sun, so it would give us plenty of time to visit a few places before we have to be back."

"Plus it would give us some time to relax, almost like a mini-vacation." Katara said reassuringly.

_That would be nice _Aang thought. _We've been planning and training non-stop since Ba Sing Se fell_.

Aang looked back and gave Katara a big smile. "That sounds like a great idea."

Katara smiled back, happy to see Aang a bit more relaxed. "Well, what do you guys think?"

"I'm in." Toph said, "It'll be nice to have some downtime."

"Well, Sokka?"

Sokka looked at everyone tentatively, until he finally gave in, "Alright, but remember we are on a mission." making a point to say it very seriously.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Okay, Mister Buzzkill, we'll be good little soldiers." she said and gave a Sokka a sarcastic salute.

"Alright, you ready Appa?" Aang said excitedly to his huge flying bison.

Appa grunted back at Aang with approval. I guess he wanted a break too.

"Jump on everyone!" Aang yelled, and everyone got on Appa, the last being Toph who grumbled about how she couldn't see anything.

"Yip Yip"

And with that, Appa propelled himself into the air, and they flew off.

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So here's the first chapter of my first fanfic ever. Please read and review. I want to hear your comments. I don't know when I will have the next chapter up, but I'm hoping that you will be able to meet Kai, my OC soon. I'm still working on some trait stuff and how I want him to interact with the others and especially Toph. I had hoped that this would seem more Toph centric, but I ended up focusing on Aang more in this chapter. I'm not completely sure why but I hope you like it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm sorry this has taken so long. My summer has been pretty busy as of late and it's been hard to find a good muse to work this story, but I hope you enjoy

Disclaimer I do not own Avatar, but I do own my OC, Kai

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**Chapter 2**

"Where are we?" Toph said angrily. She always hated long trips on Appa since it was impossible for her to "see" where they were.

"We just pasted Ba Sing Se, and we are over the Si Wong Desert." Aang replied, trying to ease Toph, which was to no avail, since she just slumped back and sighed loudly.

"It's been a while since we've been here." Katara said to no one in particular.

They all remembered what had happened when they ended up wandering the Si Wong Desert before. Appa had been taken from them by sandbenders and Aang had gone into a deep depression. They wandered around aimlessly getting attacked by all manner of creatures. It was an experience they didn't wish to relive again.

"Hey Aang, aren't we flying a little low?" Sokka asked, looking over the edge of Appa's saddle.

Aang had not even noticed that they were slowly drifting down in altitude. He was always so used to the long trips that sometimes he wouldn't notice Appa getting tired. They had been flying two days straight, only landing to change back into their non-Fire Nation clothes. Aang petted his flying bison friend who grunted weakly, obviously worn out from the journey.

"Don't worry, Sokka. We'll be okay." Aang replied.

All of a sudden, Toph sat straight up at full-alert. It was faint, but she could hear a small whooshing sound coming up from behind them.

"Hey, Twinkletoes. I think we may have company."

"I don't see anything." Katara said looking around.

The sound was getting closer.

"It's gaining on us." Toph said, this time with more concern in her voice.

"Listen, I know you don't like being on Appa, but until we get past the desert we can't..."

"Shut up Twinkletoes. Listen!"

All of a sudden Aang could hear the noise too. And it was close. Real close. The gang looked behind them to see a giant sandstorm coming up from behind them at full force.

"C'mon Appa yip yip" Aang yelled, the noise of the sandstorm now deafening, but no matter how hard he pulled on the reins, Appa continued to drop in altitude.

"Oh no, we're being sucked in." Sokka yelled.

The giant sandstorm swallowed them up into it's swirling vortex. Sand began slamming into their faces and eyes. Appa began to sway back and forth, trying to fight his way out of the the sand prison. After what seemed like an eternity, Appa was finally able to wrestle his way out of the vortex. But he was still blinded by the sand.

"Watch out."

And with that, Appa slammed into a stray mountain that stood out amongst the otherwise flat sandy desert. They all started falling toward the ground. With a grunt Aang airbended an air pocket underneath the falling crew, which helped lessen the blow as they all landed in the soft sand below.

"Is everyone okay?" Aang asked, rubbing his bald head, which was throbbing with pain.

"Yeah I think so." Katara replied, trying to get some sand out of her dark brown hair. Toph was already on her feet, brushing the sand off of her clothes and Sokka was sitting down, attempting to get sand out of his ear canal. Then Aang looked at Appa and gasped at what he saw. Appa was standing up on his feet, but his tail looked battered and as he tried to wave it, the beast growled in pain.

"Oh no," Aang said. "I think Appa's tail is broken. He can't fly us out of here if he can't use his tail."

"It's alright, Katara can just heal Appa with the water in her jug." Sokka said, gesturing toward his younger sister. Katara looked down and sighed.

"I would, but I'm afraid I lost it during the sandstorm." Katara then went over and hugged the big furry bison. "I'm sorry, Appa."

"So, we're stranded in the middle of the Si Wong desert, with no flying bison and no water. This is so bad." Sokka cried, his hand covering his face.

Aang agreed with Sokka. With Appa's ability to fly paralyzed and no water, things did not look good for them.

_In this desert...we wouldn't last long_.

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I'm sorry if this chapter is short and if it is not as well-written as my other chapter was. I've been having a tough time coming up with the scenario in which they get to the Si Wong Desert, and I hastily decided on this one. I promise that we will meet my OC, Kai in the next chapter. I PROMISE


	3. Chapter 3

I'm sorry for not posting sooner. This writing thing is a lot harder than I had thought. It's tough getting ideas, but don't worry. I intend to see this story through to the end (even if I haven't figured out an ending yet xD)

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, but I do own my OC, Kai

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**Chapter 3**

"Sooo thirsty"

They had been wandering the desert for two hours and Sokka had been complaining almost that entire time, enough that even Aang was getting annoyed.

"Stop complaining, Sokka. It's too hot." Katara said through the the cloth she was using to cover her face from the sand. Sokka replied with a sour look.

"Maybe we should head this way, Aang."

"It doesn't matter what direction we go, it all looks the same."

"So what are you saying, that we should all give up." Toph replied angrily.

Aang merely hung his head. "No, I just...I'm sorry. This is just so frustrating.". Aang looked to his friends and then to Appa, who was still favoring his tail.

"I know, Aang. It's okay. I'm sure we'll find a way out of here...". Katara trailed off, her eyes squinting toward the direction she had just mentioned.

"What is it Katara?" Toph asked, obviously aware that something was up with the young waterbender.

"I think...I see someone."

Sure enough, way off in the distance, there was a slight rocky region and on one of the rocks jutting out of the desert sand, is what looked to be a person sitting on it.

"Finally someone who can help us." Toph sighed.

"Wait guys, how do we know this person isn't with the Fire Nation?" Sokka said suspiciously.

"What would the Fire Nation be doing in the middle of the desert, Sokka?" Katara replied incredulously.

"Besides, we'll die out here if we don't get help soon."

And with that, Katara began running toward the stranger they found in the seemingly uninhabitable desert.

"Wait, Katara!" yelled Sokka running after her, his meteorite sword at the ready. Aang and Toph brought up the rear with Appa in tow.

As they got closer, the figure began to come more into focus. Their supposed savior was a boy, probably around the same age as Sokka, sitting cross-legged on the rock. He was wearing light brown shorts that were tattered around the edges. His shirt consisted of a slab of leather that covered his torso, secured by a blood red sash around his waist and a thin tan scarf adorned his neck, flapping in the desert wind. Dingy white strips of cloth were also wrapped around his hands, arms, and legs. His hair shared the same color as the sand around him, which appeared much lighter in contrast to his tan face. When the gang reached the boy they noticed his piercing blue eyes were on them, his brows furrowed. Katara was the first to greet him.

"Hello."

The boy shifted his gaze to the waterbender.

"What do you want, outsider?" the boy replied loudly. Toph noticed the unique characteristic of his voice. It was firm and stable, yet she could almost sense something else, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Katara backed down almost immediately after the rebuttal, his eyes fixed on her as if they could see straight through her.

"Please, we need help." Aang called out to the teenager sitting on the rock. "We don't have any water and our animal is injured."

"You should get out of here, all of you."

"Look, all we need is directions to a place where we can get water. You don't even have to lead us there." Sokka yelled back at him, obviously very irritated at the rudeness of the stranger.

Then the wind picked up. While it took a while to register with the Avatar and his friends, the boy sensed it and stood up, gazing out toward the direction the wind was coming from.

Aang looked at what the stranger was looking at and his heart sank.

"Sandstorm!"

The gang gasped in horror as another giant sandstorm came hurdling toward them.

"There's no way we can outrun that thing."

"Quickly, lets get behind these rocks and hold on." Sokka said.

Everyone ran toward the rocky area to find cover for the oncoming natural disaster, except for the rude boy who had told them to leave. He jumped down from the rock he had been sitting on and began walking toward it.

"What the hell is he doing?" Sokka exclaimed. The rest of the group looked on with puzzlement and fear as the boy began getting closer to the sand tornado. The boy then stopped, turned so his side now faced the deathtrap and spread his feet far apart.

_I know that stance_. Aang thought to himself. _That's a horse stance._

Soon the storm completely engulfed the defiant adolescent, falling victim to Nature's fury. When the gang thought that it was the end for them as well, the storm suddenly came to a stand still. It was still swirling and howling, but it stayed in one spot, around where the cloth wrapped boy was. The storm then started to wobble, no longer a stable funnel of sand. The sand storm began to thin out and the gang saw what was happening. Inside the storm, the leather clad boy was still standing firm to the ground, waving his arms and hands around his body. It reminded Aang of a combination between Airbending and Waterbending. Soon they realized that the sand began morph and flow, following the boy's hands. The once dreadful sandstorm now began to diminish in size, tumbling over itself. Before long the storm was as tall of their rude rescuer, who with a final pushing motion, brought the sand down and the storm dissipated.

"Did you see that?" Sokka exclaimed, dumbfounded by the sight.

"That boy...he's a sandbender." Katara said in amazement.

"And not just any sandbender." Aang said, adding to Katara's observation. "He just bended an entire sandstorm like it was nothing."

The boy turned and headed back toward them.

* * *

Well here it is. See I told you you would finally meet him (in case you haven't figured out, the sandbending guy is my OC). I'm having some difficulty with this story and since I have at least a few people actually interested in how the story turns out I was hoping to get their opinion on this matter. As I have been planning out my story, I have run into a couple snags as how to go around it, to the point where I'm thinking about changing some major elements. I was hoping that the community could give me hand in this decision making progress. Here's the things I am thinking

1. Changing the nature of the story and just have Kai be another member of the group, with some hints, but no flat out romantic relationships with any of the characters. In other words a retelling of the canon with one extra character.

2. Keep the nature of the story, but change it into instead of Kai and Toph, having it be Kai and Katara, because I'm running into trouble with Toph being OOC (which I hate OOC characters), and the way I have it written now it would make the transitions into this couple (KaixKatara) easier.

3. Just keep everything the same as I had originally planned.

If you could leave a review in this chapter and write your choice and the reason why, it would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to see what you have to say, so please review and tell me what you think


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